"Somebody call 911 ... "

Last night I made another attempt to call JNU. Skype needs more internet connection than I had, so I had to call from the land line. I pulled out the number: 0091-11-22674022.

I dialed once. beep-beep-beep. The auto-operator warned me shrilly that I had dialed incorrectly.

"I'll just drop the zeroes .. maybe I don't need those." So I dialed again, but the phone started ringing before I got halfway through, so I hung up. When I picked up to dial again, the line hadn't disconnected, so I hung up again.

Finally, I remembered that a friend had given me an international calling card, so I called that way. Remember, this is 1:00 am ... an attempt to get ahold of India during office hours. But, no one answered.

Just as I hung up, after waiting 10 rings for someone to pick up in India, the phone rang.

"This is 911. We had a hang up call and need to check and make sure everything is ok."

Just as I answered, Dad (woken from a sound sleep) did, too. "What the heck is going on?"

"Nothing! Sorry, wrong number." (Note the phone number above. Yep. 91-1... Aargh.) But I gave her my name and confirmed the address, and went back to bed.

I was in a sound sleep when the phone rang again. 911 had called back stating there were deputies outside, and someone needed to go meet them and let them know everything was ok. It was 2:00 am. Dad, once again, had been woken up and I urged him to go to sleep.

Only, there were no deputies outside. Apparently they were sitting outside someone else's house, waiting for them to come to the door. I sat in the foyer waiting to meet them. As I was falling asleep on the floor, the cat was excitedly paced back and forth, sure that I was up just to play with him. I just hoped they weren't outside Uncle Dan's. At 2 am they'd have a good chance of getting themselves shot  ... and we'd sure hear about it in the morning! 

Dan:   Us:

Just as I was going to bed (at 2:20 am), I saw headlights at the end of the driveway pointing at the driveway. As I went to the front door, the car came up the driveway ... with the headlights off. As Dad said, "If they were going to sneak up the driveway, why did they call to let us know they were coming?"

Sure enough, two deputies came to the front door -- one short and fat, the other tall and skinny. "Is everything okay?"  It's 2 thirty in the morning! I am standing in the front door in my pajamas, no contacts, and dead tired. But, "Sure, everything's fine. Wrong number ... Yep, trying to call India. Country code 91." 

It's a good thing there wasn't actually a problem. We would have been dead by the time they got here ... 

Another Beshears family adventure.

Flashback: Journal entry May 2008

I was browsing my journal and filling in some things I missed when I came across this page. Thought I'd share. :)

Things I've learned this past week (or so) ...

1.  Do not make extra chapatis. Extra dough rots overnight ... and forgotten cooked chapatis turn into a tupperware full of black mold.

2. When the neighbors have to do a sound check for the backyard get together, it's a bad sign! When the sound check is at 9 pm on a Sunday night, it's a really bad sign.

3. India doesn't have snow days. But, it does have brown out days. 7 hours a day of no current is quite hard on my work productivity.

4. Ants are super annoying ... and ubiquitous. Whether they're the biting kind or not, they are disgusting and creepy when they're crawling through everything, on everything, in everything. They're also remarkably stupid. For all their wandering, they still haven't managed to find the food ...

5. Carry an umbrella. Whether it's really raining or not, Indians cannot bear for you to get wet. At the slightest hint of drizzle they will chase you down with an umbrella before letting a drop of water hit your head.

6. If you leave chilies on the terrace to dry in the sun, it will rain. A lot. If you drain them and leave them out to dry again, it will keep raining until you remove them. If is my fault monsoon has come a month early this year.

7. Arranged marriage is no easier than a love match. It comes with its own set of woes, worries, and troubles. It is different, but not easier.

8.  Old McDonald is really hard song for 60 teenage girls to sing, especially when you don't know what a farm is ... or a cow ... (Because they don't know English, not because they don't know what a cow is).

9. Yet, little girls living in a children's home who don't know the word "farm" immediately recognize giraffe and kangaroo. 

10. When the coffee shop gets a new guy, you have to train him all over again to get used to you coming and "working" while you drink your coffee (not typical in India except for us ferungis foreigners!).  And no power means no computer battery means journaling = working, at least for today.)

The Opossum; aka Yes, I'm running out of things to blog.

South India Breakfasts: The Best Lil' Hole in the Wall in town

When we were on survey, there was a small "hotel" (simple restaurant) just around the corner which was only open for breakfast. My fellow surveyors very nicely put up with me as I had no desire to try any other place for breakfast after discovering this one!

Outside, there was nothing flattering about this place. There were two wooden doors that barely closed, and no evidence from the outside that a business was operational. But in the morning, the doors would be flung wide open -- both to invite in customers and to let in the light.

When you walk in, you find a small table in a corner. You have to watch out for the waiters in white who are scurrying back and forth from the counter/cash register to the tables to the kitchen to get the food. We sat in the "Family Room" which was to the side and reserved for women or families. The other room was just the men.  There are no menus -- my friends knew exactly what kind of foods a place like this would serve and just what to order. I, on the other hand, wasn't sure what to expect so stalled everyone by asking what they actually had -- and then what that meant!  It was very disconcerting not having a menu in front of me.

The first day I settled on idli, I think, along with two cups of tea. The tea comes in little stainless steel cups which are set in a stainless steel bowl. This is both to catch spills and so that you can pour the tea back and forth between the cups until it is cool enough to drink.  Or you can pour a little bit in the bowl, swish it 'til it cools, and then drink from the bowl.

The next day, as we walked in there were little plates set on a counter ready for the waiters to come pick them up.  I asked my companions what it was, and they told me, "It's set dosa."  "Set" is the English word just like a tea set of set of dishes. When the British came, they would order a set of dosa -- a stack of 3 or four dosas on top of one another. They were amazing! They were smaller but thicker than regular dosa, and didn't need masala or chutney to go with them. They were wonderful, and this became my new favorite thing at the restaurant.

 

When we finished, the waiter brought the small bill and we took it the counter. Our breakfasts usually costed about 60-70 rupees each, or $1.50 at the current exchange rate. As we got up from the table, we went through an exchange that became common throughout the survey and eating out. I felt obligated to leave a tip, at least 10 rupees (25 cents). My fellow surveyors would quickly tell me to put my money away -- You don't tip here!  We finally compromised that I could tip at a restaurant, but at this type of very India hole in the wall "hotel," it would be entirely inappropriate. It was hard for me not to leave something on the table, but culturally it would be similar to leaving $5 on the table at McDonald's. It just wasn't what you do!

I was a bit disappointed when we moved on and had to find new places to eat. Nothing quite compared to that little breakfast joint around the corner!

South Indian Breakfasts: Continued

Often at Aunty Samuel's we would have upma for breakfast. Upma is made from suji aka wheat semolina aka cream of wheat. That's right! Just like the good old cream of wheat we had as kids. Well ... almost.  You still boil it, but before boiling you add mustard seeds, onions, and other vegetables depending on what region you're in and who is cooking. Some people have it soft, some people cook it up thick enough it can be sliced, and some people cook it so that it is "flaky" or fluffy.  Aunty put sugar on hers, but I preferred mine with salt, which everyone who ate breakfast with me found very strange ... I personally thought putting sugar on anything with onions in it very strange!



I've had upma a couple times since coming back to the US. It is quick to cook and very filling!

At least once a week, Aunty would go out and buy idlis. A lot of people make these at home, but because there were only a few of us it wasn't really worth the trouble. Idlis are made from ground rice then steamed to make little "buns". These are served with a small bowl of sambhar (sahm-brr, vegetable soup with a few lentils in it) and coconut chutney.  You can either pour the sambhar over your idli and then eat with your hand, or tear up the idli and dip them into the sambhar or chutney.  Idli are light and fluffy and have very little flavor of their own, but I like them more than they probably deserve!



Now for the biggest treats: the specialties that we only got when eating "outside" (not at home). Because I stayed with a family rather than at hotels, I didn't get to have these as often as more traditional tourists, but that made me enjoy them all the more.

Vadai (vuh-duh or vuh-die) are circular and fried, similar in shape to small doughnuts but savory rather than sweet. They can be just dough, or they can include gram (lentils), onion, mustard seeds, and other spices cooked inside of them.  The best vadai I had in my whole time in India was at a bus stop on the way to Goa. They were fresh from the kitchen, and just the right balance of softness inside and slightly crispy crust. Vadai is usually served with sambhar and chutney also, and it's common to order a mix of vadai and idli for breakfast.

 

And last but not least, the dosa!  Dosa is similar to appam in the previous post except that it does not contain yeast. It is similar to a French crepe but it is not sweet.  Dosa are made in a practiced way of pouring a spiral of thin batter onto a large griddle or special dosa pan so that it comes out thin and bubbly. Masala dosa are folded around a potato filling which is nearly-mashed-potatoes cooked with mild spices, onions, and ginger-garlic paste. Paper dosa are a tourist treat and are cooked on a huge grill then rolled up, either empty or with the potato mixture inside. These are paper thin, very crispy, and 2 feet across! 




In my next post, I'll tell you about an amazing little breakfast place we found while on survey and what it's like to go out for breakfast. :)